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even if the situation is like that, one may enter into negotiations to see what happens
because as Fuller (1992:21) says" your negotiation skills - or your opponent's lack of
them" may change the situation and you find that you were being unduly pessimistic.
Secondly, the timing may not be right for negotiation. Fuller (1992:21) quotes
the situation of buying goods from a dealer who has backlogs, which may lead to his
failure to meet delivery dates but cause him to charge excessive prices. Thirdly, it is
important to establish whether your opponent does have the authority to negotiate and
reach agreement so that you may time. However, some negotiators pretend not to have
authority to reach agreement in order to extract more concessions from you. Fourthly, a
longstanding business relationship may make it unwise to force better terms on your
business companion. Therefore, before negotiating new terms with an existing supplier,
it is important to test, among others, how reliable and responsive your supplier is, as
well the quality of the service to be rendered because your opponent may use the
opportunity to modifY the existing or previous agreement to his advantage.
THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS
Aubuchon mentions three methods that can be used to get action from people
I.e. command, negotiate and persuade. Command is used as a last resort when
negotiation and persuasion have failed and when one is sure of one's power and
authority. However, it only makes people comply reluctantly.
Negotiation, according to Aubuchon (1997:2), is used "only when absolutely
necessary", but even then it only works when one party is prepared to give something
in order to get what it wants; therefore it has limitations. Mediation and arbitration are
also part ofit. Aubuchon regards persuasion as the best method to have others do what
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